Ince wants action after crowd trouble after Blackpool game

Paul Ince hopes that it does not take a fan getting 'stabbed' to make football's authorities take further steps to prevent crowd trouble.

The Blackpool manager looked on as some of Preston's fans invaded the Deepdale pitch on Monday night following a 1-0 win over his side in the Capital One Cup.

Preston and Blackpool are old rivals but passions ran too high as ugly scenes unfolded, with television images showing a steward being trampled by a police horse as attempts were made to restrain the crowd.

The steward, wearing a hi-vis jacket, was struck by a horse as it cantered across the pitch, while another horse - also helping with crowd dispersal - appeared to clip him as he lay on the ground.

Ince labelled the scenes an "absolute joke" and added: "I understand that fans get excited....but who knows what can happen.

"We're not listening. Has someone got to be stabbed before we listen?"

The former England international continued: "I wondered if we have enough stewards.

"You see enough situations where fans run on a pitch and I can understand fans' excitement, but there have been enough frightening things that have happened to players that we need to stamp down on it.

"There were three or four hundred Preston fans, so who knows what could have happened? Has it got to take something else to happen before we listen? That's not just Preston but it's the whole football community in general. We need to knuckle down on this.

"We're disappointed as our fans were absolutely fantastic and their behaviour was impeccable. There were no louts on the pitch - unlike Preston - and we conducted ourselves in the right manner. We have to take pride from that as a club."